Where's Walter
by Ariahnah
Summary: The day after receiving the strange letter from A postlude to the Be This is my very first attempt at a fan
1. Chapter 1

As the sun made its way over the horizon, Olivia willed herself out of her dreams. The sound of little feet padding through the room pulled her from the remnants of sleep and she smiled, opening her eyes at the blond little girl sucking her thumb in front of her. Henrietta, her 'Etta. She still marveled at her perfection. Her eyes a precise imitation of her own. Her hair blond, with her father's curl. Her smile, definitely Peters, and her feet…well, yes. She has my feet, she thought. Olivia rolled over closer to Peter to make room for her morning greeter.

"Hi Mamma." Henrietta smiled, tilting her head to one side. "Daddy?"

Olivia turned to the empty bed. He didn't say anything about leaving early. She reached for her phone and found no calls or messages. Turning back to her daughter she sighed, smiled and raised her up onto the bed and into her arms.

"I don't know 'Etta. Maybe he's getting breakfast. Are you hungry?"

"Yiss" she mumbled through her thumb.

Kissing her forehead, she gathered Henrietta onto her hip the two followed the scent of coffee to the kitchen, as Olivia talked about what they would do that day. Rachel, her sister, was due in town with her two children, Ella and Edie that morning and they were practicing saying her Aunt's name.

"Say Aunt Rachel," Olivia nudged. "Ann Rach" she responded, and Olivia chuckled at her mispronunciation of the name.

The kitchen was empty, a cup with a few drops of coffee left in the bottom sat by the sink. Something wasn't right.

"Daddy?" Henrietta called.

"Peter, are you home?"

She knew there would be no answer. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but she knew something was not right. Olivia's heart began to beat a little bit faster, as she walked to the doors checking the locks to be sure all was safe. She held her daughter close against her body. Perhaps, she should call him. He normally wakes her if he leaves early. She reached for her phone, and her eyes rolled in a silent groan. She left it by the bed. No pockets in pajama pants.

"Daddy," Etta giggled again. "Daddy!"

"Shh, let's go call Daddy on the phone." She smiled, unsure if she was reassuring herself or the girl, who just giggled and cuddled in closer repeating her father's name. Carrying 'Etta back upstairs with her, she placed her on the bed while she shut the bedroom door, retrieved her phone, and armed herself, checking to make sure the safety was on and hiding it inside her shirt so the child wouldn't see it. Henrietta sucked her thumb, watching her mother's movements.

"Gun," she said, wide eyed at her mother.

Olivia froze. She was too perceptive, this daughter of hers. "How do you know that word baby girl?"

"Gun"

"Great, I'm screwing you up already and you're barely the same age I was when they started the Cortexiphan trials". She sighed, mustering a smile. "Yes, mamma has a gun for work". What did she tell Ella back then, when they visited and she forgot to put it away? "I use it to catch bad guys". She rustled Henrietta's hair. "Let's call Daddy, shall we?"

Peter's phone rang as he pulled into Harvard parking lot. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Hi, you weren't home when we woke up. Are you o.k.?" Olivia asked when he answered.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just wanted to ask Walter something this morning."

"Oh, o.k." she paused. "It…it couldn't wait until after breakfast?"

"Well, I guess it could, but it was nagging me, the letter he sent me. "

"The tulip?"

"Yeah. It just makes no sense. I can see you sending me pictures of tulips, but not him. Are you sure you didn't send it?"

She laughed, remembering their first encounter in the field of white tulips. "No, not me. I guess you'll have to ask Walter." Her heart rate began to slow down. The immediate fear subsiding. She picked up Henrietta and began back down the stairs to the kitchen, pulling oatmeal out and preparing it for breakfast. "So are you going to talk to him about moving out of there today?" She poured a cup of juice and placed it in front of the girl.

"Maybe. Are you sure you are o.k. with it?"

"Yeah, he's family really. He shouldn't be staying there alone all the time, and we have the room here. Besides, Peter, he seems so much better when you are with him. You do really well with him."

"You told me that once before. Do you remember?"

"Yes, I do."

It still amazed them both how they held both timelines in their memory. The newer one somewhat blurry, although others around them didn't share those memories. It did, however, help them with Fringe assignments in the past. However, life had been calm since the assignment that ended with the knowledge of her pregnancy. Since that day they stopped Bell and prevented the universes from colliding. It seemed like a lifetime ago. There hadn't even been many Fringe assignments lately, nothing major in the least, and there was talk of closing down the unit. It worked off of a skeleton crew now anyway.

She heard Peter call for Walter over the line. Not Dad, but Walter. He always used his first name. Parallel universes and alternate fathers will do that to a boy's mind. She grinned, stopping herself when she, heard him call again.

"Peter, is everything o.k?"

"He's not here. Let me call you back." The line went dead and Olivia stared at the phone willing it to ring again. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, as everything in her body was telling her something was happening on a Fringe level, she finished serving breakfast to Henrietta and took her upstairs to change for the day.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Olivia placed her daughter in her room and told her she would be back. Closing the door, she crept down the stairs, hand to her side to remove the safety from her weapon. Slipping to the window she peered out, and released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. _God, I must be going insane. There hasn't been a Fringe episode in years. What am I doing?_

Olivia opened the door to say hello to her sister's family, as her niece and nephew ran up the stairs to see their cousin. Noise erupted from the ceiling while squeals and giggles carried through the house. The adults shrugged in defeat. Greg, Rachel's husband, carried luggage to the guest room.

"How was your trip?" Olivia asked.

"Great, if you don't count how many times two kids have to stop to pee in an hour," Greg called over his shoulder.

"Wouldn't have happened if someone didn't feel the need to buy them a drink at every stop. Seriously, Greg. You're a glutton for punishment," Rachel teased.

"Hey, I hate to do this to you, but…"

Rachel interrupted, "Really Olive? You haven't had to run off to bad guys mid conversation since before 'Etta was born."

"Yeah, I know. It's just, Peter went to talk to Walter, and he's not there."

"So?"

"So…um. Walter never leaves the lab alone. And well, I'm a little worried. It's not an FBI thing. It's a

"Father in law thing" Rachel finished the sentence for her. "O.k. You want me to keep an eye on the princess up there?"

"Thanks."

Quietly opening the door to the lab, Olivia held her weapon out. Everything seemed quiet, except for a hiss of white noise. She slowly crept into the room and surveyed the area, walking toward the office area where Walter normally slept. The shades were closed, and she jumped when Gene mooed from the corner. Turning quickly to survey the room, and throwing herself against the wall, she paused to look at the cow in the corner. She never did understand his affection for the animal. Or his insistence on drinking raw milk, but she could work well as a guard dog Olivia mused. Nothing else moved in the room, so she continued toward the office.

Olivia found Peter on the sofa bed staring at the t.v. screen and the origin of the white noise. "Hey," she said from the door. Peter didn't move. "You o.k.?" She walked to the sofa bed to sit next to him. Touching his face, "Peter, what's wrong?" her hand moved down his arm, ending at his hands, where she looked down to see the tulip drawing Walter had mailed to them the day before. "Peter, where's Walter?" She squeezed his had firmly and spoke louder "Peter! Look at me." He turned. "Where's Walter?"

"He's gone." He looked so lost.

"I can see that he's gone, but where?"

"Just. Gone."

"Peter, you aren't making any sense." He turned to the television and pressed rewind on the remote.

"Peter, I sent you a letter. It contains something of mine... I imagine you called me to ask why would you send such a strange letter? And when you tried to call, I didn't answer. So you came to find me at the lab. But I was not to be found. I was here one moment and vanished from the face of the Earth the next. I want you to know, I'm fine. And living many, many years from now. You will never see me again. You will never again because it had to be this way to ensure the future of our humanity. Your future, the future of Olivia and the future of Etta. I don't want you to be sad. The time we had together, we stole. I cheated fate to be with you, and we shouldn't have had that time together, but we did. And I wouldn't change it for the world. I don't want to say goodbye, but I will say… I love you, son."

They sat, hand in hand staring at the screen as the video ended. Neither moved for half an hour, processing their emotions in silence. Where is he? How do we know he is fine? What does he mean many, many years from now? Why can't we ever see him again?

"What will we tell Etta?" Olivia finally broke the silence.

"I don't." He paused. "I don't know."

The sat a few moments longer, and Olivia turned to see her husband shaking, heaving as it finally over took him. She pulled his head to her chest. The sobs convulsed through his body, her shirt getting soaked with his tears. "He's gone. My dad. He's gone. All these years. I mean, he's not really my dad, but he's gone. I never even told him I cared. He crossed universes to save me. He raised me, and I never told him. Why? What did you do Walter?"

She held him tighter, "I don't know, but he knows you loved him. You held him together. You kept him grounded. Peter, he knows, or he wouldn't have left the message on that video".

She held him, rocking as though he were a child, her lips brushing his head as they both wept. Slowly he calmed, his body slowed to occasional tremors. "What _are _we going to tell Etta?" He sniffled, and began to wipe his eyes.

Olivia shrugged. She didn't know what to say. He was broken, and she didn't know how to fix this hurt. Taking his head in her hands she kissed his forehead, and brought her lips down to meet his in a tentative kiss. "I don't know."

A door opened and closed in the lab breaking the moment. Olivia reached for her gun in the holster stopping when she heard the familiar voice of Astrid. "Hey Walter, I brought you some donuts for breakfast!" She was greeted by Gene instead. "Walter, are you going to let that cow go without milking all morning? She looks like she's in pain."

"Walter's not here." Olivia said from the office door.

"What?"

She looked at Peter, who began to wipe his eyes as he nodded from the sofa bed. "Come here," she nodded toward Astrid.

Astrid came into the office where the video began to play again. Peter sat silent from his seat as she stood in front of the screen. Olivia beside him, touching him in reassurance as he relived the nightmare once more. At the end Astrid stood silent for a moment before mumbling, "I always thought you were tripping when you talked about this."

"Astrid, what do you mean by 'when you talked about this'?" Olivia looked away from Peter at her comment.

"Oh, um it didn't make sense at the time, but he said things like 'they're coming', and 'I have to fix this' and was always talking about Observers." Astrid pulled out drawings of a bald child, scribbled in pencil in a sketch book of mathematics and engineering designs. The child was labeled "child Observer" and "Michael" depending on the drawing.

Olivia's phone rang. "Hi, sorry, we're still here."

"Everything o.k?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, uh. No. I don't know, but I don't think we can do anything about it at the moment."

"Did you call the police?"

"Rachel,"

"I know, you are FBI, your guys are better than the police. O.k. well, the kids are getting hungry. I thought I'd order a pizza since it's after 1:00 already"

"Yeah, go ahead. We are going to leave soon anyway. I will meet you there. Thanks. Bye." Olivia hung up her phone. "That was Rachel. Kids are getting hungry, we should go, but call Broyles on the way." She touched Peter's arm. "Astrid, do you want to join us?"

"No," she replied. "I'm going to stay here and go through this stuff. See if I can find anything. Besides, Gene is going to explode if someone doesn't milk her." She grinned as she nodded toward the cow.

"O.k. We will talk to you later then." She took Peter by the hand and walked toward the door, but he did not move. Stopping she reached up to turn his head toward her. He simply looked right through her. "Do you want to stay here?" He shrugged. "It's o.k. I can handle my sister. You stay if you want." He kept staring ahead. "Peter, we will find him. Look at me. We will find him." Their eyes locked and he reached for her pulling her toward him until their heads met. "Stay here with Astrid. I'm going to call Broyles, and put a team on this. We _will _find him." She kissed him and walked out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

It was after midnight in the Bishop house. The children all slept on sleeping bags together, Henrietta insisting on joining her cousins on the floor. Olivia and Rachel sat on the sofa together, sipping coffee. Their blond hair hanging over their mugs. The sisters' facial expressions were similar and in that moment of tense worry, the relation was unmistakable.

"Did Peter call back?" Rachel looked at her sister.

"No." she sighed. "I've called a few times. He simply isn't picking up his phone. You know, for how strained their relationship was, I didn't expect him to react this way."

"Really? I always thought they got along fine. I mean they bickered like father and son do, and well, Walter can be a little crazy at times."

Olivia chuckled, only it sounded sad in spite of herself. "You have no idea."

The sound of shuffling feet caused both women to look up. "Hi baby girl. Come here." Olivia cradled her daughter in her arms inhaling the scent of the strawberry shampoo she bathed her with that evening. "Daddy?" She asked, rubbing her eyes. "Daddy's not home yet." She stroked her hair, wondering how they would break the news to her. Henrietta looked up at her mother and tried to smile, but the smile was overtaken by a yawn. "Gumpy, I dweemed".

"You had a dream about Gumpy?" Olivia asked, using her daughter's name for Walter. Grandfather, and even Grandpa was difficult for some children, so they adapted things and made up their own names. Gumpy seemed to be Walter's name, and Olivia refused to correct it, though Walter often insisted on a long diatribe of how children should be taught proper phonetics. How the problem with society today is that they could not communicate properly, and perhaps if they smoked more marijuana or used more LSD they would relax enough to use proper diction when speaking. These conversations usually ended with Olivia threatening to harm Gene to where she would never produce milk again, or using torture methods specific to Guantanamo Bay if he dared self-medicate her three year old.

'Etta nestled in closer to her mother and nodded in response to her question. "Uh huh" she muttered sleepily.

"Do you want to tell me?"

She looked up at her mother with heavy eyes, and pulled her thumb from her mouth. "Boy. No hair wike Mistuh Filp", her name for Phillip Broyels. "Boy no smilies, Gumpy do. And cars in the sky."

Olivia stared at her daughter. "What do you mean cars in the sky?"

"Gumpy gone, bye bye. No more Gumpy."

"How does she..."Rachel started, but couldn't finish before Olivia interrupted, "what did you say in front of her?"

"Nothing! I swear. Liv, I wouldn't stress the kids out that way. All she knows is you were running late and we ordered pizza. I didn't even speak about it until the kids were all in bed and we sat down here together."

Olivia looked back to her daughter, and up at Rachel again. "I'm serious Liv. Besides, why would she dream about a black bald little boy?"

"He's not black"

"Your boss is black. Has she seen pictures of him as a kid?"

"The boy isn't...never mind"

"Isn't what? What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. I can't really talk about it." Olivia mustered a weak smile. "It's ok. I think my nerves are just shot."

She sighed and ran her hand over her hair. Lights broke through the gap in the curtains, and both women turned to the door. Rachel nodded at her sister and peeked out the window. Her shoulders relaxed as she released her breath. "He's home Liv," and she opened the door to her brother in law. "Hey you." Rachel hugged Peter as he walked through the door, "I'm just...um...gonna go to bed. Liv is in the living room." She waved in the direction of the living room and walked back to the room. "Talk to him," she whispered in her sister's ear before kissing her cheek, and walking to the guest room.

"Thanks Rachel" she replied before turning to her husband. Peter stood in the doorway watching his wife. She held little 'Etta curled in her arms. They were beautiful, Etta's hair the same golden color as her mother, with just enough wave in it to take after him as well. She was in her element as she held their daughter. Even more beautiful today than the day they met when she threatened to call the state and have him arrested on the spot. He didn't even know her hair color then. It was covered by that gray hijab she wore over her head. But those eyes. They had pulled him in at a glance. And now both the females in his life shared the same intense gaze. And yet she looked lost, just as lost as he felt. Her eyes spoke volumes of the internal battle she waged in her head. Olivia kissed their daughter's forehead and shifted to lay the now sleeping child beside her.

"She woke up looking for you." Her intense green eyes peered straight to his soul and he broke eye contact to stare at his feet.

"Sorry." His mumbled reply broke her inside and her breath caught within her chest. Olivia crossed the room to where he stood and wrapped her arms around his waist. They stood there, heads pressed together for a moment before speaking. "I looked everywhere," he said.

"I know. I was beginning to worry."

"I turned my phone off."

"I'm glad you're ok."

"I'm not."

"I know. I meant I'm glad you are safe. That nothing has taken you from me as well." She looked at him and gently pressed her lips to his. He held her tighter and sighed deeply. "I just can't think of where else to look. I've even been to Reiden Lake. There is simply no sign of him."

"'Etta knows." Olivia interrupted his thoughts,

"You told her?" He held her arms pushing her away for a moment to stare down at her.

"No. Peter it's weird. She woke up tonight after a dream about Walter. She describe a bald boy that to her looked like Broyles and flying cars."

"What?"

"I know, right? No one has spoken in front of the children. How she would even have this information is concerning."

"Maybe her imagination just got the best of her."

"Peter." she paused. "What if the Cortexiphen affected her somehow?" They both knew Walter had said the drug would be burned out of her system with that last jump she took between universes, but she had already been pregnant when they dosed her. She hadn't known or she would never have taken the risk, however, she was six weeks pregnant then and had allowed herself to be injected with massive amounts of Cortexiphen and psychotropic drugs. That combined, with the lack of oxygen when she was shot in the head, Olivia always worried something would happen to the baby. When Henrietta was born perfectly normal, and beautiful and absolutely wonderfully theirs, Olivia had relaxed and put her concerns aside. But this, this brought all those fears to light again.

Henrietta had fallen asleep crying for Daddy. Sure, she was tired. She and her cousins had played hard that day, but she was inconsolable and even after sleep overcame her, she tremored for a bit, gasping every few seconds before finally calming into a deep slumber. Olivia explained the emotional outburst and they both understood how the two were connected.

"I don't know Livia. We don't even have Walter to run tests on her, and I wouldn't trust anyone else...wait...that almost sounds wrong."

She smiled, "I know what you mean. Maybe I'll talk to Nina tomorrow when Rachel takes the kids over to see her."

"I don't want her becoming a Massive Dynamic guinea pig."

"Me neither, but she might have an idea. Besides, do you really think Nina would allow that? She loves those kids. She is just as much a grandmother to those kids as Walter is Etta's grandfather."

"Ok, but no experiments." Olivia nodded in response and he continued, "Was she upset by the dream?"

"I don't think so. She just said bye bye Gumpy, and went back to sleep."

Peter willed himself to exhale and pulled Olivia to him burying his head in her hair. They stood there, inhaling the same air, wrapped up in their thoughts of Walter and Henrietta. No solutions came. Only more questions. Their daughter stirred on the sofa, breaking their self-induced trances.

"I'll carry her to bed." Peter said after kissing his wife on the forehead. She placed her hand on his cheek and managed a weak smile.

"I love you. Don't forget that," she said before he broke their embrace.

"I don't think I can do this without you Livia."

"Then don't. We will figure this out." With one more kiss they separated and Peter carried his daughter up the stairs. She opened her eyes for a moment to smile sleepily and say "Love you ever Daddy" before nestling back into his arms asleep again.

That night the lovers spent sleeping in each other's arms. Peter clung to Olivia as if she might disappear as well, never releasing his grip. Olivia clasped the hands that embraced her willing some small part of her to give him strength. They had overcome much together, and this might be their toughest battle yet.


	3. Chapter 3

Astrid's fingers moved swiftly over the keyboard, type, then enter, another few characters and again the constant clicking searching for a way into the city database. Suddenly "access granted" flashed across the screen and they were in the city wide system. Olivia looked at the black woman with perfectly spiraled curls, the question in her mind screaming across her face in spite of her pregnant pause.

"Think this will work?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know," Astrid replied. She reached into a bag of red vines and pulled two out, offering one to Olivia who shook her head in a no. Astrid waved the vine toward Olivia insisting she take it. "I am eating them for good luck. Between my computer skills and his favorite candy, we are bound to make progress right?" Olivia took the offered sweet and chewed on it, forcing herself to swallow. She hated this candy. She never understood Walter's appreciation for the confection. Seriously, it tasted like wax with only the smallest hint of strawberry, but they could use all the luck they could get, in spite of her not being superstitious.

They peered for hours over the footage, only stopping when Henrietta interrupted them telling them she was hungry. Astrid offered her one of the red vines, while Olivia rummaged through her bag for the sandwiches she had packed for the two of them. The little girl climbed onto her mother's lap, a sandwich quarter in one hand, a red vine in another, and looked at the computer screens, "Bob Bob?" She asked, using her three year old pronunciation of her and Walter's favorite cartoon, Sponge Bob Square Pants.

"No, baby, we are looking for Gumpy." Olivia rustled her hair.

"Gumpy gone. Bye bye." She leaned back against her mother and looked at the monitors again. The women looked at each other in silence. Since that night 'Etta dreamt of Walter and the Observer child she had been convinced her grandfather was gone. She never questioned it, or when she could see him again. She simply accepted it. The women turned back to the images and watched the city's security cameras continue to cycle through the last 7 days.

After a while Peter entered the lab, and was greeted with three year old squeals. He gathered her into his arms and took a bite of the offered candy. It was sticky as only a child and her drool could produce, but Peter never could resist his daughter's gifts in spite of their slobber. He thanked her for sharing before kissing her forehead and placing her back on the floor.

"Anything?" Olivia looked up from their surveillance.

"No. I've scoured China town for three days now showing his picture, even at the spice shop he liked to frequent. The guy hadn't seen him in over a week." Peter walked behind Olivia and rested his hands on her shoulders. He bent to press his lips to her head, inhaling the scent of her shampoo. Olivia responded by turning her face to him, reaching for one of the hands resting on her shoulders. Concern emanated from her eyes, and they peered into his soul. She loved his father. Some days he wasn't sure why, or how that bond had formed. After all the Cortexiphen trials he had put his wife through when she was a child, he didn't understand how she could stomach to be in the same room as Walter. But his wife was perfection that way. Her heart overflowed with compassion and forgiveness. Sure she had been angry when those memories resurfaced, but she used them to her advantage. She managed to save the world a few times even, with Walter's help. Perhaps that's where the transformation began. He didn't quite know, but he knew it made him love his wife all the more.

"Wait a minute," Astrid called and all three adults turned back to the monitors. She paused the clip, expanded it to fit the screen, negating the other camera images. The date on the camera image was the same day as the tulip letter. There he was walking down a Chinatown street. His image entered on the right of the image and then simply vanished halfway across the screen. "Replay it," Peter ordered, and Astrid backed it up again. "Enlarge i." "Slow it down." "Rewind it." "Bring it up again." Peter and Olivia began calling out directions as Astrid typed furiously on the keys. Every directive was met with the same result. Walter was there one minute and gone the next. He simply vanished.

Olivia picked up her phone to call Agent Broyles, her boss. She explained the images and offered to send the clip over immediately. Astrid, already anticipating the request, forwarded it so that Agent Broyels heard the telltale bleep on his phone, alerting he had a file waiting right as Olivia had offered. "That was fast," he said. Olivia turned to Astrid who simply nodded, and Olivia smiled in gratitude. They set up a time to rendezvous and discuss the recordings, while Olivia packed her bag preparing to leave. After arrangements had been made she hung up the phone and began to walk out the door.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked.

"I'm taking the video clip to Nina," she replied while downloading the recording onto a flash drive.

"I'm coming with you." 

"Peter, someone needs to stay with 'Etta. I know how to talk to Nina. It's o.k. I can handle this one."

"I'm coming with you."

"Peter,"

"This is my father, and I am not going to sit around waiting. I'm coming with you and that's final."

"And what about 'Etta?"

"We take her with us. Nina already knows what is going on, and you said she liked to see her anyway."

"Fine, but you know it's nap time soon and she will have a meltdown soon if we don't get her home."

"I'm still going."

"Guys," Astrid interrupted, "If you like I can watch her. I don't have much going on here right now and could use the distraction."

"Thanks, but I know you have that report to file for Broyles, and that it is due, thanks to this, oh…yesterday," Olivia replied. "You've done too much for us already. Besides, I hate leaving without one of us being with her." She tilted her head in Peter's direction to indicate who 'one of us' meant.

"O.k. But don't say I didn't offer, or have that I don't have copious amounts of sweets at my disposal to bribe little girls into behaving with." Astrid offered another red vine to Henrietta as she said this and tugged at a lock of her hair gently causing Henrietta to giggle. Peter and Olivia thanked Astrid again for her offer, promising to call when finished at Massive Dynamic. The family walked out the door with little 'Etta perched upon her father's shoulders. "Gammy Nina! Gammy Nina! Gammy Nina!" she crooned as they all preceded to the car.

"It's been a week." Olivia looked at Peter that evening as they laid in bed together. "What if 'Etta is on to something, and Walter is just gone?"

Peter stared at his wife, the contours of her face more pronounced in the shadows of the dimly lit room. He reached for a lock of her hair and she placed her hand on top of his.

"I think it was just a dream Liv. Maybe she ran across some of the images in our files. Remember, we let Nina's doctor look her over and he said she was fine."

"But the recording even said he was 'many, many years from now'. And the security footage. He simply vanished, though how he could prepare for that I don't know. He didn't look like he was planning on leaving. He was simply there one minute and gone the next. Peter what if he really is in…"

"The future?" Peter interrupted. "Last I checked time travel hadn't been perfected, and even still it was only in reverse. No. Something else has happened. I just can't imagine waiting years to find him though. Or worse…"

"Don't say it." She reached up to place her fingers on his lips. "I know."

Olivia wrapped her arms around her husband and pulled him to her chest. He laid there in her arms trying to make sense of everything, and finding no answers. Eventually both fell asleep, a restless sleep with each waking off and on to stare at the ceiling as their worry pulled them from slumber.

Olivia woke early, her biological clock forcing her to rise before her husband, and this day, before her daughter. Henrietta would be waking soon, none the less, so she crept to the child's room to check on her before heading down the stairs. She stood in the doorway watching Henrietta sleep. The slow rhythmic sound of her breathing always brought a sense of calm over Olivia. As she stood there, the memories flooded her of her time in the alternate universe. The original timeline experienced, not the timeline everyone else was familiar with. At least Peter remembered those times, she thought.

She wondered about the man who rescued her. Almost five years later and she still didn't know if he was ok or not. Had Fringe Division over there arrested him for assisting her? Did he still drive a cab or was he fired from the job after his ordeal with her through the city streets? Henry had done everything he could to help her even though she was a stranger, and sounded completely insane. She owed her life to him. She owed her marriage to him and she owed her daughter to him. Had he not helped her, she would never have made it home. And so Olivia stared at the little girl who bore his name.

She had insisted in naming their baby after him. She never gave thought to the fact that the baby would be a girl, but it had been easy to feminize and Peter seemed to like Henrietta better than Henry anyway. She never did understand his disdain for the name, but she was grateful to be able to pay homage to Henry's memory in some small part. Peter had shortened it the moment she was born and always called her by her nickname 'Etta. It suited her, really and now both parents used the name, in spite of the birth certificate.

It was in the quiet hours of the morning that she remembered him. In those moments she wished the bridge had not been severed between universes, even if it were for the best. In those moments Olivia dared day dream about crossing over and introducing Henrietta to the man responsible for uniting her mother with her father. These thoughts always brought a smile to her face, but she knew she could not fantasize forever. Too much needed to be done. Her baby girl needed to be fed, her reports for work needed to be filed. She had gotten behind looking for Walter these past few weeks and there still was no sign of him. And yet, there was still Walter to be found. Crazy Walter. Genius Walter. Insane enough to break the world and put it back together Walter. Adoring father Walter. She sighed and moved down the stairs to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee.

As she waited, Olivia pulled out the file she had compiled of her memory of the time traveler. She drew images of the machine the man had implanted into his body. She wrote down the energy used to facilitate the time jump, and jotted down a note to look in the Fringe archives to find out if there was any record of this case. The mathematics she wanted to check. Exactly how many kilowatts had been generated in his jumps? How much cellular activity has been sapped from those affected? So many times things she had remembered were from the previous timeline, when she and Peter were together and not strangers, but sometimes she was lucky and found useful evidence to help with cases in the FBI Fringe division archives. She hoped luck would shine on her today and some of that evidence would surface to help find Walter. The coffee pot gurgled, and dripped slowly, cuing her to retrieve a mug just in time to get the first cup.

Olivia savored those first sips of caffeine. Black, and piping hot just the way she liked it. She inhaled the steam pouring from the cup and listened to the sounds of the world beginning to rise from slumber. Birds sang somewhere in the tree outside their door. Cars began to hum as owners prepared to leave for a day at work or running errands. A few teenagers passed her house every morning on their way to catch the school bus. Today she caught the word "dance" and "are you gonna ask him?" She grinned at the simplicity of youth and how easy life seemed for the blissfully unaware.

A floor board creaked above, a door opened and closed. Silence for a moment, then the sound of running water. Her husband had waken before their daughter. Olivia finished her coffee slowly and wandered up the stairs. A quick peek in at 'Etta showed the child still blissfully asleep. Today would be a lazy morning, slow and un-rushed.

Walking to the closet she stood staring at her clothes. Black, and navy suits stared at her paired with various white button down shirts. Peter teased her over the lack of color in her wardrobe and insisted on buying her colorful t-shirts and dresses to wear when she was off duty. As she reached to pull a suit from the rack, a set of arms circled her waist. Peter stood behind her, still damp from his shower, and she leaned into his embrace.

"Thank you," he whispered into her ear. Olivia turned to face him her hands resting on his bare chest.

"For what?"

"For being you. You are...amazing." He cupped her face. "You don't complain when I'm out late looking for Walter. You've put countless hours into finding him yourself, and yet..." He leaned in to kiss her forehead "yet you hold everything together here too. What did I do to deserve you?"

Olivia wrapped her arms around him and smiled. It seemed she could not even think of a response to these overwhelming words of gratitude. She stared at him a moment before bringing her lips to meet his. The kiss was slow, tentative, but searching. They had not made love since Walter had disappeared and both their bodies ached for one another. They pulled away for a moment before their lips met again, this time with more fervor as their bodies sought one another out. Peter pulled her to the bed as embracing her as Olivia's hands traced the contours of his body. No words were spoken as each sought solace in one another through union. Their love making was slow, and deliberate, with an understated passion that spoke volumes of their adoration for one another.

In the aftermath he held her, realizing how much he had missed her during his endless searches for his father. They exchanged silent smiles, neither wanting to break the magic of the moment. The moment wasn't to last forever though, and soon little feet were heard scurrying across the hall. Within seconds the doorknob began to jostle and Peter sighed. "I guess that's our cue." He grinned and donned a pair of shorts while Olivia pulled a shirt over her head. "Thank you" he said and left the bed with one more brief kiss before opening the door to little 'Etta.


	4. Chapter 4

Olivia sat in the living room, cup of coffee beside her, laptop in her hands. It had been three months since Walter's disappearance and she still found herself reviewing security footage from around the city, looking for clues that would locate Walter. In frustration she slammed the laptop town and began to dig through her desk, rooting through the cherry stained drawers and slamming them shut when she did not find what she was looking for. She looked through the bookshelf beside the desk, again to no avail. Her hands went to her hair in frustration pressing it down toward the low lying ponytail she wore. She leaned against the wall, questioning her memory. She never forgot where she placed things. Her eidetic memory wouldn't permit that. Yet, here she stood, running her hands over her hair, sighing in frustration because she could not remember where she placed the book she had bought last week.

"Mamma, mamma! Look!" Henrietta skipped into the room waving a brown leather bound book in her hands. Olivia's memory had not failed her. It seems the journal she had picked up had been confiscated by her golden locked 3 year old.

"Etta that was not yours. Why did you take it?"

"I unno. Pichurs!" She shrugged then gave up on explaining to her mother in her excitement to display her art skills. "Look! Gumpy and boy." There on the first page were primitive stick figures. One with lines drawn on the face to replicate what Olivia thought may be wrinkles. A gray square where a shirt should be caused her to remember he had been wearing his gray cardigan the day he disappeared. There were gray squiggles where his hair should be. The other figure had a white square where a shirt would be and no hair. "Gumpy" as she pointed to him was smiling, there was no mouth on the _boy_.

"This is," Olivia paused, "really something baby girl. Did you dream again?"

"Uh uh." She shook her head no.

Olivia took the book from Henrietta's hands, as her anger dissipated. This could work just as well, she thought. "Hey, come here." She placed her hand on her daughter's back and guided her to the armchair. "I was going to use this book to write letters to Gumpy, just in case he comes home again. I think your pictures for him are wonderful. Do you think you'd like to do that?"

"Yiss!" Her thumb was in her mouth as she leaned against her mother's chest.

"O.k. but Mama's going to hold onto the book. O.k? You need to ask to draw for Gumpy in here." Henrietta nodded as Olivia picked up a black fine tipped permanent marker. Wherever, or whenever he was, she wanted to be sure the words did not fade before he read them.

Dear Walter, It's been three months since you disappeared. I wish you had left us more information. Peter is lost without you. I know sometimes you doubted if he loved you, but he does and cannot seem to function knowing you are gone. I have no way to communicate with you any longer, but I am hopeful, that someday, somewhere, this book will reach you. That you will know you were not forgotten, and that eventually you will learn that we survived and even thrived. 'Etta seems to have beaten me to writing you and you can see her handiwork on the first page of this journal. She has dreamt about you. She knows you are gone and no one had to tell her. Somehow she knows about the Observer child when no one else but Peter and I seem to recall anything about Observers. Their presence seems to have been erased from all previous case files. Walter, it is strange and I don't know what is going on, just that we all miss you and wish you were home again. Know you are not forgotten. ~ Olive

Her cell phone rang, showing Broyles, Phillip on the caller I.D. "Dunham." She answered, closing the book and placing the pen beside her on the end table.

"Broyles here. I need you and Peter at headquarters. There seems to be a series of missing persons events taking place."

"Missing persons? How is this Fringe Division?"

"They all seem to disappear from the same block. Here one minute, gone the next. Security cameras show them simply vanishing."

"Where?"

"Outside Ping Li's in Chinatown. Astrid is here already working logistics."

Olivia's heart skipped a beat. This was the exact spot where Walter had disappeared. Visions of universes colliding began to form in her head. The mishap from trying to save his son the first time and opening a hole between worlds, played over and over in her mind. What had he done this time? And why had he not learned his lesson?

"I'll call Peter and we will be right there."

"See you then." A click was heard as Phillip Broyles disconnected. Olivia scrolled through her contacts list to find the babysitter's number to no avail. The call went to voice mail so she left a message saying she would try to find someone else to watch Henrietta. Finally reaching the number of Stacy, the 16 year old next door, she punched in the girl's contact and waited for it to ring.

"Hello Mrs. Bishop!" A cheerful voice greeted her. "Dad! Mrs. Bishop's on the phone. Can I go?"

"Stacy, you don't even know why I'm calling yet?"

"Sure I do. You never call unless you need me to look after 'Etta, and frankly Mrs. Bishop, I could use the spending money. There's this concert I wanna go to with Derik and he doesn't have a job so, I'm gonna hafta buy the tickets."

"Aren't the guys supposed to foot at least part of the bill?"

"I'm a liberated woman! What can I say?" Olivia chuckled at this response and shook her head. "Hey, my dad says it's cool, but I gotta bring my homework. Is that o.k?"

"Sure, but no boys. Tell Derik he has to wait until you are finished babysitting alright?"

"No make out sessions with the boyfriend. Check. Parties and booze?"

"Uh….no."

"Drat."

"Is here something I need to worry about?"

"Naw, I'm just kidding with you. Besides, you and I both know my dad would _kill_ me if I pulled a stunt like that."

Olivia found herself thinking that would not have deterred her as a teenager, but Stacy never seemed to be a rule breaker. Not since they met her at 13 years old. Regardless, she walked to the liquor cabinet and locked the door before hanging up the phone.

"So, when can you get here?"

"I'm putting my homework in my bag now, so ten minutes?"

"O.k. I will order a pizza for you two for dinner. Do you want anything on it?"

"Oooh, extra cheese and pepperoni!"

"Deal. Alright I will see you in ten. Thanks."

"No problem! I'll be there."

Olivia ordered dinner then called Peter at the lab explaining to him what Broyles had said. He was in his car before she finished providing the information and speeding down the highway. Stacy was already heavily involved in an intense game of Hungry Hippos by the time Peter arrived home and the couple gave the little girl hugs and kisses before re-explaining the home alarm system to the young babysitter, and leaving. She girls grinned at each other as the door shut and dove into Stacy's bag where she began their ritual of make overs.

It was a game they played, pretending that her parents did not know she wore make up. It made 'Etta feel grown up and pretty, and most times Stacy washed her face before bed, so no one was ever the wiser. Occasionally the little girl would fall asleep before the face washing phase and Olivia would come home to a preschooler covered in glittered eyelids and lip gloss. Stacy, however refused to leave the house with 'Etta's creativity on her own face. Three year olds just don't have cosmetics down to an art form yet, she would explain, and that the end result was something out of a Stephen King novel.

Peter drove and Olivia rode in the passenger seat. Her hand rested on his thigh as he navigated through the city streets on his way to the FBI offices. He reached down to take her hand in his as he continued to steer with the other. Instinctively they reached for each other, and found solace in each other's touch. There was no need for words. Each understood the ramifications of the events they were getting ready examine, and were trying to formulate solutions in their mind.

On arrival at Headquarters they walked side by side. Peter briefly guided her with a hand at the small of her back. Protocol was too engrained in them though, and in spite of years of marriage, they both always kept a cool distance while at Headquarters. His hand dropped to his side as soon as they entered the building and the space between them expanded. A brief nod and smile acknowledged each other and they continued to the 10th floor to the offices of Fringe Division.

They walked through the main office, past the row of monitors where Astrid stood, overseeing a group of five junior agents. "Print that." She directed to the young red headed man on the end. Passing the agents, they continued into the smaller office housing Phillip Broyles. "Sit down." He motioned to the chairs in front of his desk, and Peter and Olivia took a seat.

"Here's the last one." Astrid walked into the office and handed a document to Broyles. He thanked her and turned to the couple seated in front of him. "It started five weeks ago. And every week at the same time it seems to happen. Someone walking down the same street as Walter Bishop did, simply vanishes. Currently there are five missing persons reports, and each one has been identified by the security cameras over Ping Li's Grocery. They enter on one side of the screen and are gone half way across the screen." He paused. "Peter, what time did your father disappear?"

Peter stuttered. He had been searching, not reviewing security footage. He looked to Olivia who quickly interjected. "According to the security footage, 19:42."

"Take a look at the time punches on these images." Broyles handed the documents to Olivia, and she leafed through five blurred images each marked with a time of 19:41:55. "O.k. so what is this?" She asked, as she handed the images to Peter.

"Now look at these." He handed a second set of images, the characters in the scene were the same as the previous images, though each was in a different spot. However, the central figure to the previous pictures were all gone. Each photograph was labeled 19:42:34. Olivia looked at Broyles, as she handed the second stack of photographs to her husband. "Walter disappeared at the same exact second as these people," she said. "You said missing persons reports have been filed. Does this mean we know who these people are?"

"Yes, I have provided addresses for each of the subjects. All but Andrew Jones were married. He lived alone. The rest you should be able to speak with their spouses. Jones had recently moved here, and it does not seem that he had a social network established yet. He was a graduate student at Harvard though, in biological engineering. However, he did not live on campus, preferring to rent a studio two miles away."

"Any roommates?" Olivia asked.

"None that we are aware of."

"What about the others?"

"Matthew Mansfield, PhD, retired chemistry professor from IUP. He and his wife Claire, relocated to Boston to be closer to his daughter, Amanda. Claire still works as an accountant." He pointed to the photograph labeled Matthew Mansfield, then handed her another photo and continued with profiles. "Aida Njorge, Egyptian immigrant. She and her husband, Achmed, came to the United States to finish their studies. She is a pediatric neuro developmentalist. He is a Pediatrician in the suburbs. Both went through the steps to obtain their US citizenship in 2011." Pulling another photograph, he handed it to Olivia as well. "Dr. Paul Stravinsky, Neuro Surgeon, Boston General. Was recently considered for the director of the neurology department, and the announcement would have been made in 3 days who would replace the current director, who is retiring in two months." He handed the final file to Olivia, "Finally Gabrielle Dolcetti. She is a researcher. One of her recent endeavors was working on the human genome project, isolating genes for cognitive development. She lives in Connecticut, but was in town for a conference. We aren't sure what drew her to Chinatown but she is the most recent disappearance."

Olivia handed the last document to Peter, "What do you think?"

"I don't know," he replied. Something about these profiles are connected. All of them worked in the sciences and specifically, it seems like they all dealt with the evolutionary process of the brain."

"What do you mean?" Broyles leaned forward in his chair, resting his forearms on the desk.

"Look, you have two definite neurological scientists, but we also have a bioengineer and the chemist who could help obtain supplies or…um…chemicals also he can check theoretics for any experiments or hypothesis for the various projects the engineer may be working on. Let's just hope he does not have an affinity for homemade LSD like Walter. After that, is the chick who worked on the human genome project. Seriously, this looks like evolutionary manipulation. It was no accident these individuals disappeared. They weren't random. I'm willing to bet on it, and I haven't gambled since I met Liv." His eyes crinkled at the corners. It was the only hint of their relationship as they both were strictly professional here.

"Well." Olivia sighed. "I guess we need to dig into their lives a little more to see what else we can find. Shall we go pester the family members?"

"Take Agent Hancock." Broyles nodded toward the window overlooking the main floor.

"Who's that?" Olivia asked.

Broyles pressed the intercom for his secretary and indicated she should alert the individual called Hancock that he was wanted in the office. "He's a new recruit, but he's showing some potential." In walked the red haired man Astrid was giving directions to earlier.

"Him?" Olivia choked. "How old is he? Twelve?"

"I seem to remember a young recruit being given an opportunity at a very macabre crime scene a few years ago. She seemed to work out well."

"Does he come with any Fringe experience?"

"Did you?"

"Fine." She sighed and extended her hand. "Olivia Bishop, though here I am still referred to by my maiden name of Dunham. This is Peter Bishop my husband."

"Harrison Hancock. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Hancock?" Peter couldn't resist the sarcasm. "I bet you were the subject of much torment as a kid."

"You have no idea. I normally introduce myself as Harry. Agent Broyles here, doesn't let me forget the last name though."

"He's partial to surnames," Olivia replied. Though not without turning to Broyles and raising an eyebrow. Phillip Broyles stood stoic, not indicating if he was in fact in on the joke or not. Olivia turned back to Peter and gave a half smile before returning her gaze to the young red head in front of her. "Well," she paused, "Harry will suffice. Shall we?"

With that she motioned toward the door as Peter followed the pair to the black SUV waiting for them in the parking garage.


End file.
